Nationalists in Portadown have asked the Parades Commissionto place restrictions on an Orange Order Drumcree paradeplanned for Saturday.

Orangemen said it was to mark 3,000 days since they werefirst banned from walking down the Garvaghy Road.

Orange Order spokesman David Jones said the Drumcreeprotest in the County Armagh town was still very muchalive.

"It has become a protest now that is still ongoing - verymuch a protest by Portadown LOL Number 1," he said.

"It does have the backing of all Orange brethren throughoutthe country itself.

"It is more than just a parade along Garvaghy Road, itactually is a stand for the civil and religious libertiesof which the Orange Order gives particular importance to."

However, the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition hasrequested the Parades Commission to review its decision notto impose any any restrictions on the march.

"In the absence of any stoppage point being imposed, thisin effect means that participants in the parade can maketheir way along that part of the notified route to thejunction of the Drumcree Road and Garvaghy Road," saidspokesman Breandán Mac Cionnaith.

"The extremely volatile situation which such a scenariocould create is simply beyond the comprehension of manypeople."

'Rightly concerned'

Sinn Fein said it had also requested a review of theParades Commission decision.

Assembly member John O'Dowd said: "The commission was awareof the controversy over this march and had receivedrepresentations in relation to it."

SDLP assembly member Dolores Kelly said the parade was "inno way a 'traditional' march".

The DUP MP for the area, David Simpson, said he had agreedto speak at the rally.

"The 3,000 days... in realistic terms, Portadown districtshould not have been there for a day," he said.

"This is not about celebration - in talking to the district- this is about commemoration."

"The people of the Garvaghy Road are rightly concerned bythis parade. It is certainly not the best way to improverelations in the area," she said.

The parade has been marked by serious violence in the past,but it has passed off peacefully in the last three years.

The march has been one of Northern Ireland's mostcontentious. The route was last used by Orangemen in 1997.

Each July, the Portadown Orange Lodge attends a service atDrumcree church to commemorate the anniversary of theBattle of the Somme.

Since 1998, their homeward route has been blocked by thesecurity forces, following a determination by the ParadesCommission.

The Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions onwhether controversial parades should be restricted.

The Orange Institution is the largest loyal order inNorthern Ireland.

Its origins date from the 17th century battle for supremacybetween Protestantism and Catholicism. Prince William ofOrange, originally of the Netherlands, led the fightagainst Catholic King James.

Sinn Féin Assembly member John O'Dowd today said that thefailure of the Parades Commission to issue a determinationregarding this weekends planned loyalist rally in Portadownwas causing anger and apprehension within the nationalistcommunity in Portadown.

Mr O'Dowd said:

"Given the history of policing in Portadown and inparticular the policing of Orange Order parades inPortadown the nationalist community are rightly uneasy atthe prospect of this weekends Drumcree rally going aheadwithout a determination from the Parades Commission. If theCommission fails to issue a determination then issues suchas the route on the day will once again falls into thehands of the local PSNI. That nationalist community inPortadown have no confidence in the PSNI handling such asituation impartially.

"It is clear that this weekends rally is part of a DUP andOrange Order agenda to try and place the issue of theDrumcree parade onto the political agenda in advance ofplanned talks early next month. The residents of GarvaghyRoad have become accustomed to this type of pressure overmany years. People should not forget that the Orange Ordereffectively laid siege to the nationalist community inPortadown for years with the active support of all of themain unionist paramilitary gangs. Sectarian violence becamea by-word for the Drumcree protest.

"We have submitted a formal application to the ParadesCommission to review their failure to issue a determinationand we look forward to a speedy response. However up untilnow all discussions and deliberations regarding thisweekends loyalist rally have been done behind closed doorswith no transparency or explanation." ENDS

Secretary of State Peter Hain this week announced that thegovernment is giving £135,000 to a project aimed at helpingthe UDA move away from paramilitary activity and crime.

Is it a simply a hopeful shot in the dark, or part of astrategy to bring the organisation in from the politicalwilderness? Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearneyreports.

Secret talks seem a pre-requisite for political initiativesin Northern Ireland, and this loyalist project is nodifferent.

Back in November 2004, senior members of the UDA and theirpolitical representatives held tentative talks with seniorofficials from the Northern Ireland Office to discuss thefuture of the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation.

Those talks intensified during the past nine months, withPrime Minister Tony Blair and his senior advisors keptinformed of the progress.

In July, senior members of the UDA, four of its so-calledbrigadiers, met Secretary of State Peter Hain, and thentook the unprecedented step of travelling to Dublin to meetTaoiseach Bertie Ahern. Those meetings were made public,but it was the discreet, behind the scenes talks that laidthe foundations.

During those talks, NIO officials made it clear that theBritish government would respond if there was evidence of agenuine attempt by the UDA leadership to abandon terrorismand criminal activity.

Peter Hain reinforced that message when he faced the mediaafter announcing the funding on Monday.

The secretary of state said he could understand thatvictims of UDA violence might feel angry and bitter aboutthe move, but insisted that he had to look to the futureand try to help people if they wanted to move away fromgangsterism and violence.

The UDA leadership insists that it is genuine about wantingchange, and the government funding is the start of thepositive response that was promised.

It is a clear manifestation of political support.

It is also a test of that declared commitment to change,with more money promised if the government is satisfiedthat the UDA is serious.

So what does the UDA mean by change?

It doesn't mean that the organisation is going to vanishovernight, or even in the foreseeable future, and itcertainly has no intention of decommissioning its weapons.

The Ulster Political Research Group, the organisation'spolitical representatives, says the money will be used for"conflict transformation".

The aim is to prepare members of the UDA to find a new rolein their community, and in the long term this could includetraining and educational courses to help increase theirchances of employment.

People can think what they want, but most of our membersdid not join the UDA to be drug dealers and criminals

UDA source

But there is a long way to go. The International MonitoringBody, the Organised Crime Task Force and other governmentagencies have all declared that crime is rife within theorganisation, and that it is still actively involved inviolence.

The last IMC report, published earlier this month, saidthere was evidence that some of the organisation's leaders"appear committed to ending criminality amongst theirmembers", and added that this "may reflect a positivestrategic decision."

That was heavily qualified and far from a ringingendorsement, and all eyes will be on the next report, whichis due to be published early next month.

Senior UDA members and their representatives have beentalking about change for some months now, and noweffectively they are being asked to prove it.

During the dispute between the organisation's ruling InnerCouncil and a faction in north Belfast that remained loyalto Ihab and Andre Shoukri, those close to the leadershipdescribed the rift as a clash between those who wanted toend criminality, and those who were actively engaged in it.

Many took this with a very large pinch of salt because ofthe known levels of crime within the ranks of the UDA.

But those who talk of change insist they mean what theysay.

"People can think what they want, but most of our membersdid not join the UDA to be drug dealers and criminals,"says one senior loyalist.

'At war'

Another senior source accepts that the organisation didengage in crime throughout the Troubles, but argues thatthis was justified because the organisation was "at war".

"Yes, of course we robbed banks and ran extortion racketsin the past," he explains.

"But that was for the organisation, to fund the purchase ofweapons and other activities.

"Anyone engaged in that kind of activity now is doing itfor themselves, not for the UDA."

The government will hope that those voices are an accuratereflection of the current thinking of the UDA leadership.

If that proves to be the case, and the organisation isgenuinely looking to a new future, it may come to considerthe investment of £135,000 as good value for money.

If the UDA fails to deliver, the government will have lostrelatively little, but the loyalist leadership will havelost any credibility it has achieved in those months oftalks that convinced Peter Hain that it was worth taking arisk.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP is travelling to the UStoday for a series of engagements with senior politicalfigures in advance of upcoming peace talks. Mr. Adams willupdate them on what is happening in the peace process andseek their support for ongoing efforts to restore thepolitical institutions and implement the Good FridayAgreement. During the trip Mr. Adams will make a number ofkeynote speeches including an address to the Council onForeign Relations in New York.

Mr. Adams will also travel to Philadelphia to speak atEastern University, which is a Christian Universitycommitted to integration and reconciliation. Mr. Adams isthere at the invitation of the President of the UniversityDavid Black and at the event Mr. Adams will set out SinnFéin's vision to create an inclusive society and to promotereconciliation.

On Wednesday 20th Mr. Adams will attend the Clinton GlobalInitiative in New York.

On Thursday 21st at 3pm Mr. Adams will be the Guest Speakerat the Council on Foreign Relations at the invitation ofit's President Richard Haass, who is the former US envoy toIreland.

On Friday 22nd Mr. Adams will meet with Bill Flynn of theNational Committee on American Foreign Policy.

On Saturday 23rd - Keynote address at the Eastern CampoloSchool for Social Change in Philadelphia at 12.30pm

DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley appeared yesterday to imposenew conditions on republicans before he would agree toshare power with Sinn Féin in a restored devolved NorthernAssembly.

At Stormont he told the Assembly that the IRA must be"stood down" and that in relation to criminality, theorganisation's "multi-million pound empire" must be handedup and those involved in it made accountable to the police.

He reiterated that there could be no chance of a deal bythe November 24th deadline set by the British and Irishgovernments without Sinn Féin fully supporting the police.

While some observers characterised Dr Paisley's comments astypical "hard-balling" ahead of the intensive Northernparty talks in Scotland next month, the DUP leadernonetheless was demanding more of the IRA than last year'sIRA decommissioning and formal declaration that its "armedstruggle" was over.

On alleged IRA criminality, Dr Paisley said, "The multi-million pound empire has to be given up practically andopenly. Those involved in the £300 million [ €445 million]empire must be handed over to the police. The ill-gottengains of crime will be abandoned and law enforcementagencies will be supported in the seizure of these illegalgains." He also called for the disbandment of the IRA.

"Republicans like all other citizens must submit themselvesto the rule of law by the police and courts. That meansthat the organisation of the IRA must be stood down andabandoned," he said.

Dr Paisley, who with senior party colleagues also met theIndependent Monitoring Commission yesterday to discuss IRAactivity, further demanded in the Assembly that those IRAmembers who refused to abandon criminality should be handedover for prosecution by the PSNI.

"Those republican activists who will not give up crime andare integral to the republican movement in the past must behanded over to the police with available evidence. Thereare no get out of jail free cards to be handed out to theIRA or any other terrorist organisation," he said.

Dr Paisley did, however, offer up some hope of a deal ifSinn Féin fully signed up for policing. "It is Sinn Féinwho must tackle their failure to support the police and theforces of law and order in Northern Ireland. They mustsupport them and encourage others to support them. And whenthat happens we will then be on the way to establishingfull democracy in our beloved province."

Mr Kennedy said of Mrs O'Loan, who is married to SDLPcouncillor in Ballymena Declan O'Loan: "Her position isslightly compromised by family relationships which link herto the SDLP. And that in the perception of the widerunionist community remains a significant chill factor."

He added that there was a widespread perception that MrsO'Loan was "not only anti-police but particularly and mostespecially anti-RUC".

A Police Ombudsman spokesman said Mrs O'Loan had never beena member of any political party and had previously servedon the Police Authority, which the SDLP opposed. "I thinksome politicians should realise that women have views oftheir own. It may even surprise some politicians that womencan have independent views from their husbands," he added.

Meanwhile, DUP MLA Mark Robinson defended his claiming£18,000 in travel expenses last year despite the fact thathe sits for South Belfast. He said he travelled fromBushmills, Co Antrim, to Belfast which "considerablyaltered the journeys for which I claim from the Assembly".

The DUP has begun its process of internal consultation onwhether or not to share power with Sinn Fein.

After meeting the Independent Monitoring Commission inBelfast, DUP leader Ian Paisley again called for the IRA todisband.

His deputy, Peter Robinson, revealed that the party wasalready consulting its grassroots on the way forward.

"Our party always consults internally and always has inmind the people who know most on the ground," he said.

"They give us feedback. It's a two-way process. We passinformation to them and it also comes back from thegrassroots organisation.

"Our consultation will take into account what the IMC hasto say and the information we have ourselves."

In April, Mr Robinson said that the DUP would start aninternal consultation on whether to share power with SinnFein when it considered that the IRA had moved fromviolence to democracy.

However, speaking in Tuesday's assembly debate on law andorder, Mr Paisley said that power-sharing required SinnFein to sign up to policing in word and deed.

Policing

BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent Martina Purdysaid that while the DUP was consulting with its grassroots, Sinn Fein was busily consulting on republicanattitudes to policing.

During the law and order debate, the SDLP attacked NorthernIreland Secretary Peter Hain for suggesting Sinn Fein couldwork with police on the ground even if it was not preparedto sign up to the Policing Board.

The SDLP's Alex Attwood described the government's approachas "flawed" and said Sinn Fein must be encouraged to signup to the same structures as all the other parties.

The remarks come amid speculation Sinn Fein may agree tocooperate with police on the ground, while refusing to signup to the Policing Board until there is a deal on power-sharing and devolved policing.

Northern Ireland's parties have been back at Stormont sinceMay, sitting in a so-called "virtual assembly" which canmeet and debate - but not pass legislation.

The 108 MLAs have been warned that if the deadline is notmet, their salaries and benefits will stop and the assemblywill be put in mothballs.

It has now emerged that Mr Hain is considering firming upthe November deadline by announcing that he also intends toformally dissolve the assembly elected in 2003 which is notlegally due to expire until next Spring.

Devolution was suspended in October 2002 over allegationsof a republican spy ring.

The court case that followed collapsed and one of thosecharged, Denis Donaldson, later admitted working as aBritish agent.

The Democratic Unionist Party have today hit out at SinnFein after they failed to attend an assembly debate on alaw and order report they helped produce.

Speaking at the Stormont Preparation for GovernmentCommittee, DUP leader Ian Paisley confirmed that itsmembers had agreed to back proposals for the government totransfer policing and justice powers to a single devolvedgovernment department. However, he also said republicanshad to sign up to policing before there could be power-sharing.

He added that unionists would not accept devolution ofpolicing and justice until they were convinced that the IRAwas out of action.

Sinn Fein currently has members sitting on the committeewho helped to prepare the initial report, but has sincesaid it will not take part in debates on matters over whichthe assembly has no power.

Ian Paisley added that unionism resented the notion thatSinn Fein would only move when it gets what it waspromised.

Mr Paisley said: "A party wishing to sit in government overthe people of Northern Ireland yet at the same time notsupporting the police will be resisted by all right-thinking people.

"We will not have any truck with those who try to foistsuch a programme on us for their own narrow politicalagenda.”

He continued by saying that “the days of those who wouldundermine democracy and the rule of law in government areover for ever.”

Responding to Mr Paisley's comments, Sinn Fein MP ConorMurphy said that today's debate on the report was pointlessand added that it was yet another instalment in the“charade politics” which has been the hallmark of thesemeaningless debates.

Mr Murphy added that just like other issues, such as ratesand the economy, the issue of policing would not have beenresolved or progressed during today's meeting.

He concluded: "The reality remains, and all of the partiesand the two governments know this, that the policing issueswill only be resolved with the British government honouringthe public commitments it has made, on issues liketransfer, and the DUP entering into fully functioningpower-sharing institutions with the rest of the parties."

Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh Conor Murphy today saidthat the issue of policing would not be resolved inmeaningless Hain Assembly debates but in the Britishgovernment honouring the public commitments it has made andthe DUP entering into fully functioning power sharinginstitutions.

Mr Murphy said:

"Today's plenary in the Hain Assembly is the latestinstalment in the charade politics which has been thehallmark of these meaningless debates. Like the otherissues discussed including rates and the economy the issueof policing will not be resolved or advanced with today‚sdebate.

"The reality remains, and all of the parties and the twogovernments know this, that the policing issues will onlybe resolved with the British government honouring thepublic commitments it has made, on issues like transfer,and the DUP entering into fully functioning power sharinginstitutions with the rest of the parties." ENDS

It’s time to ask if Republicanism has any meaning in ourglobal, multinational, transnational and international-governance 21st-century world.

It’s time to ask if Republicanism has any meaning in ourglobal, multinational, transnational and international-governance 21st-century world.

Not only are the questions facing such a project trulyimmense, I don’t think we have even begun to start askingthem.

We might begin by asking how, in an Ireland dedicated tothe ideology of economic liberalism and ‘free trade’ - anddealing on a daily basis with the transnational power ofinstitutions like the European Union, the InternationalMonetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation - can theconcept of liberty, equality and fraternity, containedwithin the concept of the sovereignty of the people, bemaintained?

Now that even the nation-state itself is fast disappearing- and Irish Republicanism has traditionally seen itself asa nation-state enterprise - where is sovereignty now? Isnot the very subtext of globalisation and transnationalgovernance the antithesis of the notion of a nationalsovereignty in the first place?

This is not a conversation to be had at the graves of ourpatriot dead, but among the living in 21st century Ireland.

Once upon a time, our government was the only actor on thestage. Now there is a vast chorus line, issuinginstructions and attempting to govern us.

Isn’t it the indisputable fact that republican citizenship,popular sovereignty and accountable democracy, are allultimately limited by their incorporation into a worldsystem?

That world system is dominated by globalisation, driven byhuge corporations, transnational institutions and themilitary, commercial and strategic interests of the UnitedStates.

Where is what Rousseau called ‘the general public good’under this dispensation? Is it still the implementation ofthe traditional will of classical republicanism, or theeffective functioning of capitalist market relationships?

Or - to put it in simple and stark terms – do we live in asociety or just an economy? Are we citizens or are we mereconsumers?

This debate applies as much to French republicanism orAmerican republicanism as it does to Irish republicanism.

At this moment in history, following the collapse ofsocialist totalitarianism, all government, particularly inEurope, has moved to the social democratic middle ground.

Whatever about the ‘‘end of history’’, one wonders whetherwe have reached the end of politics.

Is this why the area of disputed political territory growssmaller all the time? Are all elections doomed to be socialdemocratic beauty contests?

Politicians going about campaigning for next year’s generalelection will begin to sense a growing disinterest inpolitics, a massive decline in franchise participation,particularly among the young.

Why is this? What is happening?

Could it be that the sense out on the street, that politicsand politicians are increasingly irrelevant, except forsocial and medical emergencies of course, is itself areflection of a growing perception that, as citizens, weare increasingly powerless?

Take two small-print examples of where this manifestsitself in our lives. We live in the most drunken country inthe EU. The statistics are there to prove it. Any weekend,our main streets are shocking sights, with levels ofdrunkenness I doubt you will see anywhere else in theworld.

We always had drunks in Ireland, they were familiar in ourchildhoods. But can you imagine a generation ago, ourmothers, our own mothers, spending their weekends binge-drinking, lying on street corners in their own vomit, laidout in A&E?

What, as a society, do we do?

What, as politicians and legislators, do you do? Thesubtext to our binge-drinking is market-induced, a thousandmessages every day, from various media, telling us thatalcohol is about enjoyment, about the good life, aboutrebellion, about sex, about being young, about being old,about being happy.

Sport and alcohol have become synonymous in the youngpopular imagination.

This is an interesting crisis, because here we see marketforces actually involved in the destruction of society,particularly of our youngest and brightest generation.

If we can’t just ban alcohol and don’t have the politicalcourage to ban it for under 21s, then what can we, asconvinced free-marketers, do?

Take obesity, another health crisis in society. There isnow considerable scientific evidence that processed foodsare deliberately structured to have addictive properties.Our obese people are now food junkies, principally victimsof what they eat rather than of their appetites.

Has the liberal, free-market society no social and civicresponsibility?

Is profit the bottom line? Has all authority disappeared,except the credit reference? In 20 years, will we find awhole generation’s health devastated, placing enormousburdens on our future health and social services?

Are we as citizens helpless in the face of this free-market-induced crisis? Or do we simply abandon the preceptsof society and our lives to mere market forces and tellthese people that what they eat and drink is their problemand not ours?

Do we tell them they are not citizens in a society anylonger, but rather consumers in a marketplace, and thatgovernment - even republican government - can do nothingfor them?

Liberty, equality and fraternity are out the window, in theface of market gale force.

These are just two everyday examples of the crisis thatfaces all of us. They are mere cameos of the deepeningcrisis that we face in the relationship between the oldpolitics and the old notion of society on one hand, and theawesome and unstoppable power of market forces on theother.

Why is it that, despite levels of economic wealth and fullemployment, among the general public there is a growingsense of the collapse of society?

Ask any doctor and they will tell you about an increase indepressive disease and levels of suicide never knownbefore.

These doctors will tell you too that where once theextended family in Irish society picked up so many of theproblems, they have now become the responsibility of thestate.

To date, the political argument about this crisis hascentred around the question of resources, hospital beds,more police, more laws, bigger prisons, identity cards,etcetera.

Political life has become an argument about resources,instead of a debate about where the crisis is coming from.The next election threatens to become the standard argumentabout resources, levels of management and personalitycults.

There is a row on the bridge about who should steer theship, but no debate at all about where the ship is headed.The power of unfettered market forces, combined with anincreasing sense of the failure of political control, areparallel fault-lines in this crisis.

It is our post-modern political crisis, if you like. Isn’tit interesting that these two forces parallel each other,these twin jaws which now grip our society.

I further believe that the loss of sovereignty and the lossof society are deeply interlinked and symbiotic. Where nowTip O’Neill’s famous dictum, that ‘all politics is local’?

Here then is the task facing republican post-modernisers:to establish again for the electorate the visible linkbetween their franchise and what is happening to theirsociety.

There is a sense now that governments are no longergoverning at all, that they have instead become, in the ageof transnational governance, mere facilitators to a wider‘permanent’ form of governance.

This new rule is dominated by officials and specialistagendas associated with capital accumulation and Ireland’srole in the EU. Will the new government elected next yearhave anything more than a coordinating or mediating rolebetween a variety of interest groups, aimed at managingeconomic development and Ireland’s role within the EU andglobal governance?

He wondered aloud whether a revolution is happening and noone is in charge, or whether those in charge don’t knowwhat they are doing.

Stiglitz said the spread of global capitalism has not beenbalanced by a spread of democracy or values.

I was in Berlin in 1989, the night the wall came down. Itwas a moment of historical epiphany.

We had won. They had lost.

But what had we won? Is this it now, our new society outthere, is that what we have won?

Eamon de Valera’s republican modernisation programme in the1920s and 30s was about creating a new Irish sovereignty ina post-colonial Ireland.

It was about giving the citizens of the new state theability to control their lives and their society. And itwas done in the context of the immense poverty and economicchaos that post-colonial Ireland inherited.

Given the choice then, we valued our sovereign freedomabove all the apparent materialist benefits of the Britishlink.

Eighty years on, we are wealthy beyond the dreams of ourgrandparents’ generation, which made that original choicefor us.

But has the price of that wealth been the loss of thesovereignty that brought us down the hard years, from thereto here in the first place? Has history swung full circleand found us, like de Valera back in the 1920s, again stuckbetween the rock of an increasingly invisible republic andthe hard place that is people’s embrace of the globalmarket? If politicians genuinely seek to modernise or post-modernise the republican faith, this is the emerging 21stcentury crisis.

This is a an extract from a speech made by Tom McGurk atthe recent Fianna Fail party conference in Westport.

The IMC, composed of former security and justice personneland a former Alliance Party leader, concluded that theProvisional IRA is committed to a political path.

They say the IRA leadership opposes criminality and the useof violence to control communities.

It is not planning or executing terrorist attacks,procuring weapons or training members and has engaged insuccessful dialogue to prevent violence during this year’sparading season.

Leading IRA figures are active in Sinn Fein encouragingmembers to engage in community work.

However, the IRA retains ‘command and control’ structureswhich, the IMC insists, is helpful in keeping theorganisation on a political path.

This goes beyond what might be expected. It may be thatretaining IRA structures lessens possibilities of factionsreturning to violence but by appearing to justify IRAstructures the IMC engages in a dangerous exercise.

Too many people remain sceptical about IRA intentions.

So retaining effective control and command structures andexpertise means the IRA could, if it so wished, rob banks,engage in disruption and initiate further violence – so theIMC’s words don’t inspire much confidence.

Loyalists seem prepared to accept this IMC assessment butare angry at what seems an imbalance in their commentsabout loyalists, whose organisations developed primarily toresist anti-state terrorism and other threats or perceivedthreats to their existence.

Given this, the retention of IRA structures seemsproblematic.

Until ordinary people can feel assured that the threat isgone, loyalists feel bound to retain their organisationsand perhaps weaponry, intact.

If the IMC can legitimise IRA structures, they shouldperhaps accept loyalist paramilitary structures for thesame reason.

But this would surely leave them with a dilemma in thatappearing to legitimise paramilitary structures sets adangerous precedent.

The IMC makes the bald statement that loyalists areinvolved in violence but offers no evidence to justifythis.

They give stint praise to loyalist leaders for contributingto a quiet parading season but minimise the impact of thisby reminding loyalists that they did not achieve peacefulparades in 2005.

Yet the IMC chose NOT to remind the IRA that, despite their‘stance’ against criminality, it was IRA personnel whomurdered Robert McCartney in 2005 and engaged in otherserious crimes such as the Northern Bank robbery a fewmonths earlier.

The IMC commends ‘some’ loyalist leaders who ‘appear’committed to ending criminality, whereas it commends theIRA leadership as a whole for opposing criminality.

But most loyalists seem deeply embarrassed by criminality,even if they never inflicted robberies on the scale of thenotorious Northern Bank heist.

The IMC highlights the UVF’s ‘refusal’ to clarify itsposition on decommissioning or reduction in its capacityfor terrorism before November 24.

But, with the best will in the world, loyalists must findthis more difficult after the IMC report.

Many of their people are sceptical about the removal of thethreat from the IRA, and by welcoming continuing IRAstructures the IMC adds to the difficulties facingloyalists who have engaged in serious consultations onthese issues for a number of years. The IMC report set thescene for former Alliance politician Eileen Bell to judgethat the invitation to David Ervine to join the UUPassembly grouping had broken the rules. The move wasmischievously described by Alliance’s Naomi Long as a“blatantly crass and sectarian move” that appalled “decentpeople”. Alliance thus contends that a voluntary coalitionwithin a mandatory coalition is sectarian – a contentionthat seem little more than political opportunism.

In contrast, Reg Empey has tried to rectify the imbalance,boost loyalist confidence and hasten the day when loyalistparamilitaries leave the scene. The IMC must know that somerank and file loyalists mistakenly trust the DUPleadership, who say that the IRA has not decommissioned allits weapons, remains a serious threat and that unionistshave lost the war and are now virtually in a unitedIreland.

The IMC/Alliance have come to the aid of the DUP byseemingly undermining confidence in loyalist communities.

However, it seems unlikely that loyalists leaders caneasily be dissuaded from the task they have set themselves– to facilitate the transformation of their communities.

It became obvious last week, not for the first time, thatthe young loyalist who told me after a vicious Drumcreeriot that it had only looked bad on television because “theTV cameras are against us” was stating official DUP policyon the media.

He and his father have a history of muddying the watersover sectarianism in their constituency.

On this occasion ‘Junior’ said that far from Catholicsbeing “always under attack” as asserted by Sinn Fein, “itis now evident that the attacks are in fact carried out byrepublicans on Roman Catholics”.

He also used the term “self- inflicted” and said that hewas referring to “a considerable amount” of recent attacks.

They represented an “orchestrated effort by republicans tostir up sectarian activity”; inevitably, the remarks causedoffence and anger. Afterwards, though, Junior declaredhimself furious that his comments had been “twisted andmisrepresented”. Meanwhile, police commander Terry Shevlindisagreed, albeit in an overly mild way, with Paisley’sclaims.

They were “not how I would particularly see it,” he said.Later in the week Gregory Campbell made a show of his partyon the BBC, and gave everyone else a good laugh, when heattempted to be blase about the DUP’s utterly hypocriticalattitude to paramilitaries. Paisley’s party refuses toshare power with Sinn Fein because of its IRA links and isfresh from thwarting the alliance between the UlsterUnionists and the Progressive Unionists (the sadly singularDavid Ervine).

Stephen Nolan, well-briefed and thoroughly enjoying thepursuit, asked the foolish Campbell about the DUP’sattitude to former paramilitaries in its own ranks andwhether the party would allow former paramilitaries to bein the police or not. The hapless MP replied in theaffirmative: “Provided they demonstrate they haverepented”. Oh dear. Imagine the sort of legislation the DUPwould like to frame, full of the sort of terms that wouldlead to scenes of high biblical melodrama in the courts.(Of course, only certain sorts of proof of repentance wouldbe acceptable, Protestant ones.) Leaving that aside,Campbell had blundered badly.

Two party spokesmen stepped forward to try to restoreorder. One, a former paramilitary, convicted in relation toa sectarian murder, said he would never try to join thePSNI. The other was the party leader, Dr Ian himself.

“Mr Campbell said he was misrepresented,” Paisley declared.Nolan, meanwhile, was gleefully playing and replaying clipsfrom the interview. Paisley did not dispute Campbell’sridiculous disclaimer.

Instead he stated that the DUP’s policy was that there was“no room” in the police “for anyone who engaged in violenceor broke the law”. This is the man who once proposed thatif the security forces didn’t deal with the IRA, otherswould have to do it for them. Who donned a red beret andled a crowd brandishing firearm licences?

Who was found by a British government commission early inthe Troubles to have a “heavy share of responsibility” forthe disorders in the streets? Who did time in prison andwas proud of it?

“There is a difference,” Paisley said last week, “between aman who repents joining a political group and joining thepolice.” Does anybody recall Paisley repenting, by the way?But then he was already ‘saved’ by the time he was 10 somaybe that makes it all right. “People expect very strictstandards in relation to the police”, he went on, implyingthat standards in relation to his own party were somewhatmore lax.

SoS Hain yesterday tried a little belated damage limitationon the forthcoming report from Police Ombudsman, NualaO’Loan, into the activities of the UVF.

The report might be “uncomfortable” for the government, hesaid.

The report will, in all likelihood, reveal an extraordinarylevel of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and thepolice.

High standards? Higher than when men like Billy McCaugheywere in both the RUC and the UVF?

No wonder the Police Federation has to resort to hurlinginsults at the formidable O’Loan. The unionist position,shared by Ervine – who admitted last week he never left theUVF – is that no former paramilitaries should be allowed tojoin the police. This means that such a person may notserve in the police but would be perfectly entitled to be,say, minister for justice, with responsibility for policingand security matters. Sounds mad to me. But then I’m ajournalist. s.mckay@irishnews.com

"Our aim at Belfast City Council is to use the developmentof such a civic relationship to promote business, academicand cultural links," the Sinn Fein councillor revealed.

A member of the Mayor`s delegation, attorney Mark Tuohey, aregular visitor to Northern Ireland who chairs theWashington DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, said themayor`s visit was of huge significance.

"I think it signifies the growing importance of therelationship between Northern Ireland and the UnitedStates," he said.

"There is an awful lot linking Belfast and Washington.

"Just as Washington has undergone a renaissance duringMayor Williams` tenure, as a regular visitor to theseshores I have witnessed Belfast`s renaissance.

"We have much to learn from each other. Certainly underMayor Williams, the city and District of Columbia has a newfinancial infrastructure which has enabled it to flourish.The same is true in Belfast."

Like her husband, Mayor Williams` wife, Diane, was alsopaying her first visit to Northern Ireland.

"We arrived on Sunday and I have to say I like what I`veseen," she said.

"The people have been welcoming, very friendly, and we feelvery relaxed here.

"Now I am going to do something for our economic links. I`mgoing shopping."

A Mass will be held in St Patrick¹s Cathedral Dundalk onTuesday 3rd October 2006 at 7.30pm. this is to commemoratethe 25th Anniversary of the ten young Irish men who died onHunger Strike in Long Kesh in 1981 for political status.

It is also to commemorate the sacrifice made by their twocomrades Micheal Gaughan who died on Hunger Strike June 3rd1974 Parkhurst Gaol and Frank Stagg who died on HungerStrike 12th February 1976 Wakefield Prison.

The Mass has been organised to mark the ending of the 1981Hunger Strike on the 3rd of October 1981 and to mark thistragic period in Irish history in a proper, fitting anddignified manner. The committee wish to stress thateveryone is welcome to attend and participate in the Mass.

County Louth was deeply affected by the trauma of theHunger Strikes and in electing Paddy Agnew as TD signalledtheir support for an end to the inhuman conditions whichthe prisoners had endured for many years. Commenting onwhat he witnessed in the H Blocks in 1978 the late CardinalTomás O Fiaich said, "One would hardly allow an animal toremain in such conditions let alone a human being. Thenearest approach to it I have seen was the spectacle ofhundreds of homeless people living in sewer pipes in theslums of Calcutta". These circumstances forced theprisoners to embark on Hunger Strike.

In remembering the suffering of these men and theirfamilies, we would ask all those who were involved in thevarious committees during the Hunger Strikes, those whomarched in support of them, those who prayed for them, andthe many people who remember these tragic times to attendthis Mass to commemorate the lives of these courageousyoung men.

The Sisters of Charity and the family of a woman whoalleged in a bestselling book that she was sexually abusedduring years in a Magdalen laundry have vigorouslychallenged her claims.

Dubliner Kathy O'Beirne's book, Don't Ever Tell: Kathy'sStory - A True Tale of a Childhood Destroyed by Neglect andFear, was published in 2005 by Mainstream Publishing andhas sold over 300,000 copies in the UK. It was ghost-written by Michael Sheridan.

In a blurb for the book, Mainstream said Kathy O'Beirne hadspent nearly 14 years in a Magdalen laundry where, italleged, she was sexually abused and beaten. It said thatwhen she rebelled she was classified as mentally ill andtransferred to a mental hospital where abuse continued. Itclaimed that at 13 she was raped in another laundry and thebaby born subsequently died and was buried in a mass grave.

In a statement yesterday the Sisters of Charity repeatedthat all four religious congregations which ran Magdalenlaundries confirmed as far back as 2004 that Kathy O'Beirnenever spent any time in the laundries. "The only time KathyO'Beirne spent with us was for a six-week period in areformatory school for young people," they said.

At a press conference in Dublin yesterday five of KathyO'Beirne's siblings produced a detailed account of whereshe was in the years she claimed to be in a Magdalenlaundry. A statement signed by Oliver, Eamonn, Mary,Margaret, John, Tommy and Brian O'Beirne said "our sisterwas not in a Magdalen laundry or Magdalen home".

"She was in St Anne's Children's Home, Kilmacud, St Loman'spsychiatric hospital, Mountjoy prison, and Sherrard Housefor homeless people. Our parents placed her in St Anne'sfor a brief period when she was 11 because of behaviouraldifficulties," they said.

They denied their sister was pregnant at 13 or gave birthat 14. "Our sister, to our knowledge, was not raped by twopriests, and did not receive an out-of-court settlement forthe same," they said. They rejected her "horrificallegations of child abuse against our father, a religiouscongregation, and a psychiatric hospital" .

They dismissed as "totally untrue" weekend statements byBill Campbell of Mainstream Publishing that he had checkedtheir sister's story with the congregations running thelaundries.

Mr Campbell's assertion was also challenged by the Sistersof Charity. They said that on April 21st, 2005, theirsolicitors wrote to Michael Sheridan following articles hehad written linking Kathy O'Beirne to Magdalen laundriesand homes. A copy of the letter was sent to Mainstream. "Inthe letter it was categorically stated the only time KathyO'Beirne spent with us was for a six-week period in areformatory school for young people. We received a curtresponse to this letter from Mr Bill Campbell of Mainstreamdated 11th of May 2005," they said.

Kathy O'Beirne has already rejected the claims of herfamily and of the nuns.

The Department of the Marine is considering taking overresponsibility for Dingle Harbour - thereby fulfilling a15-year campaign begun in the time of former taoiseachCharles Haughey.

There were no plans to take responsibility for any otherport, the department spokesman said.

This would make Dingle the country's sixth fishery harbourcentre alongside Howth, Dunmore East, Castletownbere,Rossaveel and Killybegs.

A spokesman said officers from the department were carryingout a due diligence report on Dingle with a view to takingcontrol of it. An advisory board would replace the existingharbour board.

There has been a drastic decline in local fishing activityin Dingle in recent years.

Under the proposals, the department would takeresponsibility for salaries, maintenance and capital worksand it is hoped the takeover would lead to significantdevelopment works.

According to harbour vice chairman Séamus Cosaí Fitzgerald,who is also a local councillor and Údarás na Gaeltachtamember, the department's designation of Dingle as a fisheryharbour centre had been promised in 1991. There was anurgent need for a deepening of the Dingle harbour channeland for additional marina berths. The harbour was nowturning away customers, he added.

Once described as the Sex Pistols setting fire to TheChieftains, legendary band The Pogues are set to treattheir fans to all the old favourites again. Keith Bourkereports

AS FAMED for their rabble-rousing and hard drinking as theywere for their music The Pogues are now set to attract anew generation of fans as they re-issue all five of theiralbums.

Classics including Peace & Love and If I Should Fall fromGrace with God are being re-released ahead of a Christmastour later this year.

The re-issues mark yet another reunion tour for thetroubled band.

The group were founded in King’s Cross in London in

1982 under the name Pogue Mahone but the name later changedto The Pogues due to lack of radio play.

Shane MacGowan, James Fearnley and Spider Stacy were theoriginal members, with Jeremy ‘Jem’ Finer, Cait O’Riordanand Andrew Ranken joining the group later on.

They began busking on the streets of London and formed whenMacGowan, in the presence of Stacy, began to play abreakneck version of an Irish ballad.

The band rapidly developed a reputation, releasingindependent work and ended up opening for The Clash on atour in 1984.

They releases their first album Red Roses for Me thatOctober.

Phil Chevron joined the group soon afterwards and with theaid of punk and new wave forefather Elvis Costello theyrecorded the follow-up Rum, Sodomy & the Lash.

The album’s title is a quote attributed to WinstonChurchill and others in describing the traditions of theBritish Royal Navy.

Fusing traditional Irish music with contemporary punk theyreached international prominence in the 1980s and 1990s.

However, MacGowan’s increasingly erratic behaviour alwaysloomed over the band.

The singer’s alcoholism and drug-taking were soonovershadowing his critically-acclaimed songwritingabilities.

Their record label, Stiff Records, went bankrupt soon afterthe 1987 release of the hit single The Irish Rover with theDubliners.

However, the band remained stable enough to record If IShould Fall from Grace with God in 1988, which featured theChristmas classic Fairytale of New York, followed by 1989’sPeace and Love.

The band was at the peak of its commercial success, withboth albums making the top five in the UK but MacGowan wasspiralling out of control and he and the band that he hadformed parted company in 1991.

With his departure, the Pogues were thrown into a state offlux and in 1996 they disbanded with just three originalmembers remaining.

MacGowan remained in the

public eye, founding Shane MacGowan and the Popes in 1993,and his wild lifestyle continued to hit the headlines.

In 1999, Sinead O’Connor reported him to the police inLondon for heroin possession in an attempt to get him offthe drug.

His autobiography, A Drink With Shane MacGowan, appeared in2001.

The band, including MacGowan, reformed for a Christmas tourin 2001 and have continued to perform togetherintermittently.

They were presented a lifetime achievement award at theannual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February this yearand are now planning another Christmas tour.

But if she utters the familiar bark of ‘Basil’ she will bedisappointed.

The frenetic, beanpole host and his hard-drinking cook Kurtwill be there but only in the shape of mannequins.

Ms Scales will arrive in a replica of the flame-red Austin1100 henpecked Basil so famously thrashed with a treebranch in the Gourmet Night episode of the 1970s series.

Devotees will recall how black-tied Fawlty, enraged at thecar’s repeated stalling as he was driving a pre-cooked duckback to the hotel, rushed off screen to grab the weapon heused to belabour the car’s bonnet.

The Austin will make an appearance following an appeal bythe new owners of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, Devon,Brian Shone and Barry Taylor.

Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, who played thewaitress Polly in the series, wrote Fawlty Towers after theMonty Python team booked into the Hotel Gleneagles in 1971.

They were confronted by the hotel owner who berated themfor their table manners and threw their briefcase out ofthe window for fear it was a bomb.

When they asked the time of the next bus to town, the hotelmanager, the late Donald Sinclair, threw a timetable atthem.

The Python team reacted like most offended customers bypacking up and leaving.

Cleese based the Basil Fawlty character on Mr Sinclair,describing him as “the most wonderfully rude man I haveever met”.

Mr Sinclair, who died in 1981, is said to have thrown EricIdle’s suitcase out of the window “in case it contained abomb” and complained about Terry Gilliam’s table manners.

He would probably have something to say about thetransformation of the shabby premises into a three-starboutique hotel.